Why Delhi’s Yamuna floodplain is more than an encroachment problem

By Bhim Singh Rawat  

There is little doubt that growing encroachment on Delhi’s Yamuna floodplain, or khadar, has created the risk of turning natural flooding into a disaster. Because the floodplain has not been properly demarcated, the O-Zone, which covers the Yamuna khadar, is not being effectively implemented.

Yet the current debate focuses on only one part of the problem, while its underlying causes receive inadequate attention. The first step is to understand what kinds of encroachments have taken place on the Yamuna floodplain and what legal and institutional framework exists to protect it.

Delhi’s Yamuna floodplain is now crowded with major construction projects. Along just 22 kilometres of the river in Delhi, there are 25 bridges and three barrages. Such a concentration of structures is not found even along the river’s roughly 300-kilometre-long upstream and downstream stretches. In addition, the Commonwealth Games Village, Akshardham Temple, metro depots and other government projects have occupied large parts of the floodplain. These structures have fragmented the Yamuna khadar and disrupted the natural connection between the river and its floodplain. As a result, the floodplain’s ability to absorb and safely convey floodwaters has been reduced.

The three barrages on the river in Delhi—Wazirabad, Indraprastha (ITO) and Okhla—have also altered the river’s natural flow. Their operation remains opaque. The three barrages fall under three different state governments—Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Particularly during floods, information about their coordinated operation is not publicly available.

The floods of July 2023 and September 2025 exposed these vulnerabilities. Yet there has been no serious discussion or sustained effort by these state governments or the Central Water Commission to review the bridges and barrages, increase their drainage capacity, make barrage operations transparent, or remove obstructions created by government projects.

Encroachments on the Yamuna khadar can broadly be divided into two categories: private and public. The first includes old villages, jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) clusters and unauthorised colonies, where farmers, fisherfolk and boatmen—traditional river-dependent communities—have lived for generations in ways adapted to seasonal flooding, practising seasonal cultivation and maintaining temporary shelters. Their relationship with the river is fundamentally different from that created by permanent concrete structures.

Several villages and their temporary settlements, including those associated with Garhi Mandu, Usmanpur, Ganesh Nagar, Pandav Nagar and Chilla Khadar, became trapped inside embankments after they were constructed. This has made them more vulnerable to flooding than before.

At the same time, in the absence of planned urban development, affordable housing and effective governance, large numbers of migrants have also been forced to settle in unauthorised colonies on the floodplain despite the risks. The construction of embankments has given many of them the impression that these areas are now safe.

The second category consists of permanent construction supported by the government. These include roads, bridges, barrages, embankments, power stations, monuments, institutional complexes, commercial projects and beautification schemes.

For years, temporary structures used by slum dwellers and riverside farmers have been labelled encroachments and removed. At the same time, large permanent structures have continued to be permitted in the very same floodplain. The real problem is not encroachment alone. It is unplanned development, weak governance, and the selective and inadequate enforcement of existing planning provisions and judicial orders. These are the reasons the Yamuna khadar continues to shrink, fragment and succumb to urbanisation.

There are three major legal and institutional gaps in the protection of Delhi’s Yamuna floodplain. First, India still has no dedicated statutory law to ensure the scientific identification, demarcation and protection of riverbeds and floodplains. To address this gap, the Ministry of Environment proposed a River Regulation Zone in 2011. Its objective was to protect river floodplains through scientific mapping and land-use controls. Yet, despite the passage of many years, it has never been formally notified.

Second, the Delhi Master Plan (MPD) gave the Yamuna and its floodplain statutory protection by designating them as an O-Zone in 2001. But because the floodplain has not been scientifically mapped and physically demarcated, and because the provisions governing Zone O have not been honestly enforced, that protection has remained weak. At the same time, successive governments have attempted to regularise unauthorised colonies located on the floodplain, further undermining the original intent of the O-Zone.

Third, Delhi has no independent institution dedicated solely to managing and protecting the Yamuna floodplain. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Delhi government, the Revenue Department, the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and municipal bodies all exercise authority in the area. But responsibility is fragmented, and accountability does not rest with any single institution.

The irony is that the DDA itself has permitted or promoted riverfront projects, beautification parks, construction facilities, casting yards and other infrastructure projects on the floodplain. Government projects have often been granted exemptions from the very planning provisions intended to protect the khadar. As a result, the O-Zone appears far more effective on paper than it is on the ground.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has repeatedly recognised the ecological importance of the Yamuna floodplain. In its landmark January 2015 “Maili Se Nirmal Yamuna” judgment, following sustained efforts by Manoj Misra and the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, the NGT directed all agencies to protect the floodplain and prohibit activities that reduce the river’s flood-carrying capacity.

Following the July 2023 floods, the NGT directed the Delhi government to scientifically map the Yamuna’s 100-year floodplain and physically demarcate it. It also made clear that embankments cannot be treated as the natural boundary of the floodplain. Although progress has been made in GIS-based mapping, physical demarcation remains incomplete because of inadequate coordination among government agencies.

Delhi urgently needs a legally effective system of floodplain protection based on scientific mapping, physical demarcation and an independent floodplain management institution. Zone O must be implemented not merely on paper but on the ground. Until scientific demarcation is completed, effective enforcement of Zone O and the long-term protection of the floodplain will remain impossible.

Future planning must clearly distinguish between traditional river-dependent communities and large permanent cement-and-concrete structures. The same rules that apply to private encroachments must also apply to government projects. The impact of bridges, barrages and embankments on flooding should be independently assessed, while barrage operations must be made fully transparent and accountable.

Protecting the Yamuna floodplain is not merely an environmental issue. It is essential to Delhi’s flood security, water security and capacity to adapt to climate change. Every part of the floodplain that is destroyed today will impose a far greater social, economic and ecological cost on Delhi in the future.

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*This article was first published in Hindi. Courtesy: South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People